Crystalline orientation control of the platelet Nd(2)Fe(14)B phase to produce magnetic anisotropy via electromagnetic vibration processing

Controlled crystalline orientation of the discontinuous phase in a composite enables the production of improved anisotropic properties, e.g., well-aligned Nd(2)Fe(14)B platelets by hot pressing and then soaking in a low-melting Nd-Cu eutectic melt to infiltrate to grain boundary. Alternatively, an anisotropic magnet can be fabricated by sintering Nd(2)Fe(14)B powder pre-aligned with a static magnetic field. In this study, we used a two-step electromagnetic vibration (EMV) technique to solidify the Nd(70)Cu(30)-30wt% Nd(2)Fe(14)B alloy, by which the magnetic Nd(2)Fe(14)B compound could be segmented into short laths and the easy magnetisation axes of these discontinuous platelets could be highly aligned, as revealed by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) patterns. Magnetic properties showed that the alloy exhibited strong anisotropy in its magnetism. Our present results opened a new avenue for the simple production of anisotropic Nd(2)Fe(14)B magnets via solidification without the powder metallurgy routine. Moreover, the technique is highly expected to be applied to other systems, e.g., graphene-reinforced metallic and/or polymer composites in which the alignment of graphene can maximise the anisotropy in the thermal or electrical properties of the composites.